


My Heart's At The Wheel Now

by MrSpider945



Series: Modern Stuff - Six: The Musical [5]
Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-05-31 15:39:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19428991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrSpider945/pseuds/MrSpider945
Summary: They'd missed them, a whole lot. But they never thought they'd actually get to see them again.





	1. Today's A Day Like Any Other

**Author's Note:**

> Title Inspiration: Everything Changes from Waitress
> 
> hi so part 2 isn’t written but i have like no impulse control so here we are!!!
> 
> trigger warnings: mentions of needles

This had been a terrible idea.

Granted, Catherine was aware of that the moment she’d heard it. Tattoos never seemed like a good idea to her, but everyone else had been quite excited when Kath suggested the idea of matching tattoos to the band, and she’d rather not bring the group down. Besides, she had taken a liking to the idea herself.

Now though, standing there watching as Aragon got hers, she felt a shiver crawl up her spine as anxiety began to settle in her stomach. Her bandmate tried to be subtle about it, but Catherine could see the occasional blinks and slight frowns- it hurt.

Not that she didn’t already know that. But the confirmation only added to her nervousness and, dare she say it, fear, for her turn.

Normally, she wasn’t the kind to be scared of new technology, none of them were. Getting the chance to be reborn as children and to grow up in the XX or XXI century was probably the cause of this. Still, she couldn’t help the way her body tensed as she watched from the doorway.

So yes, Catherine Parr wasn’t the biggest fan of tattoos. More specifically, needles. She’d figured that out as a child, due to mandatory vaccination, something she was extremely impressed and grateful for as someone who had to live through a time where there wasn’t even a cure for these diseases. Still, said feelings didn’t ease her nervousness back then, and she couldn’t use them now.

A little after Boleyn’s turn to get hers started, Catherine quietly excused herself from the room, going to stand outside the shop by the doorway. She wasn’t sure just how long she stood there, but she was jostled out of her thoughts by a hand setting on her shoulder.

“Yo, you okay?” She turned around to find none other than Boleyn, looking oddly concerned. “You seemed uncomfortable.” Catherine read her expression, hesitating on whether or not to talk about it, especially with someone like Boleyn. But then again, she knew she needed to open up more to them.

“I don’t like needles.” She explained quietly, staring at the street ahead of herself. “I still want to do this, though. Just… I dunno.” She ended up mumbling, silently cursing herself and her difficulty with expressing herself as she shoved her hands in her pockets.

“Hey, it’s chill.” She looked up as Anne spoke, raising an eyebrow. “Tell you what, I’ll stick by you, and we can rant about whatever. It’ll help get your mind out of it.” Catherine paused as Anne offered, thinking over it.

“Hell, won’t hurt to try.”

  
  
Anne laughed, lightly wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “C’mon, let’s go. Your turn’s probably soon.”

* * *

Later that night, Catherine was jostled out of her daze by heavy footsteps- definitely Cleves’s- coming up the stairs. She blinked as she glanced at the clock she left on her table- 1:24 AM, and yet she’d only heard… four of the queens go to bed?

Catherine was used to staying up until long after the others, but very rarely did she have any company past 1 AM. So when she made the connection, she set her pen down, turning to stand up. She headed downstairs, towards their living room. The large glass door there was still wide open, and Catherine made her way out through it towards the garden.

Near immediately, she spotted Anne, silently sitting on the grass with her knees curled up to her chest, arms folded and resting on top of them with her chin supported by her arms. And for a moment, she didn't know how to react. That was, before Anne spoke up.

“Are you just gonna stand there like a creep?” There was no bite to it, more so a quiet amusement, and Catherine gave her a small smile as she walked over, sitting cross legged beside her.

“Usually I don’t have company this late.” she didn’t elaborate further, and thankfully Anne didn’t ask her to. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, before Anne laid on her back, patting the spot behind her to invite Catherine to join her, before folding her arms over her stomach.

“I miss how many stars there used to be.” Catherine didn’t need to ask her what she meant- the drastic contrast was clear to see in her mind. “Whenever things got too much, I’d wait until it was dark and then head out on my own to just look at them.” She sighed, and Catherine raised an eyebrow at that. 

“Lizzie loved them too.” _Ah_. “Whenever me and Henry argued, which was… a lot, she’d get worked up and I’d take her with me and talk to her about the different constellations.” She paused, smiling sadly, and Catherine would’ve frowned at how drastically her behavior had changed if it weren’t for the subject at hand.

“She was the brightest little girl, you know? Could speak before she turned two, in both French and English.” Catherine could very easily notice the pride in her voice, the same way she could when Anne successfully proved someone wrong, but it was softer this time, it didn’t have the same edge it usually did. She blinked as her train of thought was interrupted by Anne speaking up again. “Ah, but you already knew that. You were really involved in her education, right?”

Catherine nodded, giving her a small nod. “I didn’t take on many students back then- I’m lucky I took on any at all back then. But I must admit, Lizzie was easily the brightest student I ever met, taught by me or not.” She chuckled lightly. “She still loved the stars, even as a teenager. Whenever I’d wake up in the middle of the night and couldn’t find her, I’d go outside and there she’d be, staring at the sky. We’d sit together and she’d talk about them for ages.” She smiled, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again and looking at Anne. “Said she used to do it with you. That she didn’t have a lot of memories with you, but of the ones she did have, that was her favorite.”

Anne looked away, then looked back at her with a small smile, tears pricking at the corner of her eyes for a moment before Anne noticed them and hurriedly wiped them away. “You’re a special one, Catherine Parr.” She began softly. “Lizzie got close to you, right? She didn’t do that with anyone but me and some of my ladies in waiting. Not even her own father managed to break that, but you did.” 

Catherine smiled softly at that, but it quickly faded as her mind wandered to what _he_ did to her. It happened much too often when she thought of Lizzie, of how they could still had a good relationship had it not been for Catherine’s unwillingness to believe someone she loved would do such a thing. And it cost her heavily. It cost her all she had built up with Lizzie, who she thought of like a daughter.

She was jostled out of her train of thought by Anne speaking up. “Penny for your thoughts, Lady Parr?” They both gave a light chuckle, although it was quite mirthless in Catherine’s case. She sighed, turning her head to look away from Anne.

“I’m sorry.” She finally spoke, continuing before Anne could reply. “For what happened to her.” The two stayed quiet after that, and then Anne spoke.

“Most of us regret stuff we did, or didn’t, do in our past lives. I regret being the reason Aragon and her Mary got cast out of court, and likewise, Jane regrets being reason me and Lizzie got cast out, or in my case, killed.” Anne sucked in a sharp breath, then continued.

“I was angry about it when I found out, I’ll admit it. But I’ve had enough time to sort my feelings out and accept that a grudge over 500 years long, on something you didn’t even do? That’s not a grudge worth keeping.” She sighed, and Catherine felt a tap on her shoulder, a silent request for her to face Anne. She did, and Anne gave her a small smile. “And from what I’ve read, Lizzie didn’t resent you either. So, Lady Catherine Parr, I think it’s high time you quit blaming yourself over that.”

Catherine scanned her face for any signs of resentment, of hidden meanings she needed to look for, but she found nothing, and slowly, she gave Anne a sheepish smile. “You’re being oddly soft night.”

  
  
Anne chuckled, raising an eyebrow. “And you’re being oddly open. We’re both in rare states.” Catherine laughed softly, then stopped when she heard footsteps from the inside.

“Guys, Cassandra wants to talk to all six of us.” She looked up when she heard Kath’s voice, but only soon enough to watch her walk back inside. She frowned once she’d processed her words- Cassandra rarely called them without having nothing going on, and especially not this late.

  
  
Anne seemed to have the same thought, because she sat up, looking much more serious than usual. “Something’s definitely up.” Cath nodded, sitting up and moving to stand, but before she could, Anne set a hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at her, finding her with her hand held up, showing the tattoo she’d gotten today- a green crown, with five sparkles around her, each one the color of one of the other queens.

Assuming she wanted a high five, Catherine held up her own hand, showing her tattoo (essentially the same, but the crown being blue and one of the sparkles being green), but before they could high five, Anne lightly tapped their wrists together, letting their tattoos touch. Anne grinned, then hopped up and offered her hand.

The pair headed inside and to the kitchen, where the others were all sitting. Kath was at the head of the table, in front of her phone. Anne stayed by the entrance, but Catherine went over to Kath, who she could see was in a video call with Cassandra.

“You said you had some people you wanted us to meet?” Kath spoke, and Cassandra nodded, opening her mouth to answer before looking up when someone off camera talked to her. She nodded, then looked back at Kath and Catherine.

“One of them wants to talk to you, so I’m just gonna pass the phone over to them.” Her hand moved to cover the camera as she passed the phone over, and Catherine and Kath exchanged a curious look. When they looked back at the screen, however, they both froze.

Catherine recognized the girl on the screen, or at least she thought she did. Fiery red hair, gentle brown eyes, freckles spread across her face, and a terribly familiar smirk all tugged right at her heartstrings. Her suspicions (and judging by the girl’s expression, Kath’s as well) were only further cemented when the girl spoke. “Hey. Yeah, it’s me.” The pair exchanged a look again, and then spoke the only thing in their minds.

“ _Lizzie?!_ ”


	2. I Know In Due Time Every Right Thing Will Find Its Right Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One down, three to go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title Inspiration- Wait For It from Hamilton
> 
> Okay so this has been ready for a couple days now but I wanted to wait to post it because it’s incredibly Lizzie centric and today would be her birthday. So, this is, in a way, a bit of a tribute to one of the best monarchs England ever had. I hope she’s happy, wherever she is
> 
> Trigger Warnings- brief mentions of death and i think that’s it, but ask me to tag

Anne hadn’t cared much about what Cassandra wanted to tell them at first. When she’d heard she “wanted them to meet someone,” she’d assumed it was just an interviewer or something.

But then a young girl’s voice sounded through the phone, and Anne paused. It sounded oddly familiar, but she couldn’t quite place her finger on it.

And then came Cathy and Kath’s joint comment, the one that made her freeze. She turned around, suddenly very much paying attention to the conversation.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out!” The girl’s-  _ her _ girl’s, she reminded herself, a small skip of her heart when she thought those words- voice spoke again, and she found herself taking quiet steps forward, although not enough to be in the camera’s range. “But, uh, yeah. It’s me. It’s been a while, huh?”

She noticed Kath take a step back as Cathy stepped forward, all the tell tale signs of her anxiety showing as she spoke. “Lizzie, I’m so sor-”

  
“Don’t. I dropped whatever little anger I had over that a long time ago.” Anne just barely bit back the smirk that tried to snake its way to her face- she was right about how her daughter felt about it. She watched as Cathy’s expression turned into shock, and then just gentle fondness.

“It’s very nice to see you again, Lizzie.” She replied softly, an odd tone to hear the usually fierce queen take. There was a moment of silence, and then Lizzie spoke up.

“So, um. I guess I should tell you that, all four of us are back. Me, Mary, Eddie, and… Mae.” At those words, everyone was struck silent, watching Cathy as her eyes widened and her mouth fell slightly open. “Yeah. Do you wanna talk to her?”

Cathy seemed to pause for a moment to think, then speak up. “You’re already here, you might as well talk to your mum first.” Anne froze at that, watching as the others agreed and slipped out of the kitchen to “give them some space”. There was a moment where her and Cathy’s eyes met as the latter gave her the phone, and then Anne took it and sat at the table, waiting for the last queen to leave before setting the phone on the table and facing the camera.

“Hi mama.” Anne felt a lump form in her throat at that word, but she forced herself to stay calm, despite how close she felt to breaking down after finally,  _ finally _ seeing her little girl again.

“Hey, ma princesse.” She finally replied, giving her daughter the softest smile she could manage.

The pair then fell into silence, silence that was relatively calm, if not slightly tense, before Lizzie spoke up again.

“Um, so you’re telling your stories, huh?”

Anne gave a nod, smiling softly. “Through a musical, I assume you’ve been told.”

Lizzie nodded, giving her an amused smirk. “Odd method, but it seems to be working.” The girl paused for a moment, and if the way her arms were positioned and the incredibly soft sound she heard from the other end of the phone were any indication, Anne would guess she was fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

“I’m happy for you all.” She finally spoke up, snapping Anne out of her reverie. “That you’re reclaiming your stories, and separating them from…” She trailed off, but there was no need to actually say his name- they both knew who it was. “You guys have been done enough injustices.”

She shook her head, her expression shifting into a grin that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “But enough of that. How is everyone?” For a moment, Anne almost considered going back to the previous subject, to make sure she was alright. But maybe that’d be too much for their first conversation after so long. She understood why Lizzie wanted to keep the mood lighter for now. So she moved on.

“As well as we can be, honestly. We’re all… healing. And having the others there has helped.” She paused for a moment, thinking back to her earlier conversation with Cathy, but made herself go back to the present. “Me and Aragon don’t argue as much anymore. We never argued all that much, honestly, not big arguments anyways. I think that’s good, honestly, it would’ve made things way harder than they need to be.”

“Oh, that’s nice!” Lizzie chirped up, though her expression fell soon after. “Though, I think you’ll have more trouble with Mary. You  _ and  _ Kitty, she doesn’t seem to like either of you much. I’m surprised she doesn’t dislike  _ me _ , honestly.”

Anne gave her a soft, hopefully comforting smile- she wished she could be there for her daughter, be able to hold her and such, because that would make comforting her much easier, but for now words would have to do. “I’m sure things will work out. It’s alright, ma princesse, don’t worry about it much.”

Lizzie nodded, and so Anne continued. “Jane…” She paused when she noticed Lizzie’s lips press into a fine line. “I know, I know. I didn’t trust her in the beginning either. But she’s changed. Truly, she’s worked towards it and still is. It was very tense in the beginning, but we’ve worked past that as best we can, and although there are still some… not as good days, we’ve mostly worked past those issues. She’s changed.”   


“I’ll believe that when I see it.” Lizzie muttered, and Anne had to bite back a chuckle- Cathy wasn’t joking when she’d said Lizzie was a lot like her, it seemed.

“Moving on, Anna is honestly doing really well. She supports us as best she can, and it seems she doesn’t let whatever scars she has from the past hold her back much.” She left out her suspicions that Anna didn’t let the others see into those scars much- Lizzie had just come back into their lives, she wasn’t going to put that kind of thing on her.

“Good. She always seemed really cool when we met, I’m glad she’s doing well.” Lizzie replied with a kind smile, that quickly faded. “How… how’s Kitty?”

Anne sighed softly, giving her a small, slightly regretful smile. “She’s… healing. It’s tough, but she’s getting there, I’m sure of it. She’s come really far already, and I couldn’t be prouder.” She paused for a moment, debating over whether or not to keep going. “She and Jane think of each other as mother and daughter.” She held a hand up when Lizzie opened her mouth. “I know, I know. But Jane does really care for her. I trust her, and you can too.”

“Again, I’ll believe it when I see it.” Lizzie repeated, and Anne simply nodded in response.

“I can’t blame you for that. But, well, rest assured I wouldn’t be letting her around Kitty if I didn’t think she’d be happy.” When Lizzie nodded in response, Anne continued. “And Cathy…”   


“As withdrawn as ever, I assume?” Lizzie piped with an amused smirk, and Anne couldn’t help but laugh, nodding. This earned a confident chuckle from Lizzie. “Figures. But I do hope she’s doing well.”

“She’s trying to open up more, I think. I hope you lot coming back, her Mary-”

  
  
“Mae.” Anne paused at that, letting out an inelegant “uh?”, earning a soft, slightly nostalgic smirk from Lizzie. “She always said, if she had a girl, she’d name her Mary but call her Mae as a nickname. Figured we should honor that, especially now that she has her back, you know?”

Anne froze for a bit after that, then gave her a soft, proud smile. “That’s very right, Lizzie. ’m proud of you.” She chuckled softly at the way her daughter’s smile widened at that. “But, going back to what I was saying, I hope you lot coming back, Mae especially, will help her to open up more. It’s okay if it doesn’t, though.”

“You gotta heal at your own pace, and all that?” Lizzie piped up, nodding with a smirk when Anne agreed. “And what about you, then?”

Anne gave her a soft smile. “I’m… I’m pretty happy, honestly. I can actually speak my mind now, which is still taking a bit to adjust to, despite having had a whole new life in this time. But I’m getting there. It’s just taking some time.”

“It’s what I just said, right?”

“Indeed it is.” Anne agreed, and then once again they fell into comfortable silence for a few moments. “And you?”

Lizzie shrugged, and for a moment Anne noticed an odd sort of neutrality in her eyes that she couldn’t help but worry about. “Well, I’m 11. I like to draw, paint, I guess I’m what you’d call the artsy kid in school.” She let out an soft giggle, then fell back into that same neutral expression. “No clue who my birth parents are in this life, though. Either they died or they abandoned me. Sucky, but, what’re you gonna do about it, you know?”

_ Ah _ . “Oh, sweetness…” Anne murmured softly, her mind freezing up with shock as she tried to figure out what to say.

But then Lizzie shrugged. “It’s whatever. Can’t miss something you never had, right?” She giggled again, but this time it was much emptier, almost anxious. “Though, I’ll admit, once I figured out who I am… Well, I’d always missed you, obviously, and Cathy as well, and just about anyone I actually liked from back then, but knowing…”

“It makes it worse.” Lizzie nodded, and Anne gave her a soft, sympathetic smile. “It sucks, I know, ma princesse. It does get easier with time, though, as cliché as that sounds.”

“I know.” Lizzie replied softly, pausing for a moment before giving Anne an incredibly shaky smile and- were those tears in the corners of her eyes? “‘m glad we get this second chance. To like, be together and crap. It was really sucky that we didn’t get one the first time.”

“Agreed.” Anne murmured, and for the first time she noticed she, too, had tears in the corners of her eyes. She gave Lizzie a soft smile, then heard a knock on the other end. She fell quiet as Lizzie had a conversation with whoever it was- in all fairness, she sort of let her mind wander after the knock, tuning it out. Then Lizzie spoke again, and her tiny smile was gone.

“Eddie wants to talk to his mum. Can you go get Jane?” She kept her tone neutral, probably to try and keep the boy from noticing the dislike for his mother that she previously had no trouble voicing, but Anne didn’t mention it. Instead, she just nodded, giving her another soft smile.

“I love you, ma princesse.” After she got a soft “love you too, mama” in response that had her all but melting- seriously, how was she meant to handle these feelings?- she set the phone down, ignoring the shuffle she heard on the other end as she headed for the living room.

  
  
There, she found Aragon, with Cathy cuddled up to her and what she was fairly sure were tear stains running down her cheeks, though she couldn’t blame her for it, on one end of the couch, Kitty cuddled up to Jane, who  _ definitely  _ had tear stains on her cheeks, and Anna, who walked over with a soft smile. “How are you feeling?”

Anne paused for a moment before she answered, giving her a lopsided, slightly awkward grin. “I’m feeling a lot of things right now.” She admitted with a laugh, before sobering up slightly as she turned to face the couch. “Jane, it’s your turn.”


End file.
